St. Paul Pioneer Press tech blog by Julio Ojeda-Zapata

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St. Paul Pioneer Press tech blog by Julio Ojeda-Zapata

Edina’s Bracketron unveils minimal, universal gizmo dock

Users of Apple’s mobile devices, such as iPhones and iPods, once had an abundance of docks for charging and syncing.

Then Apple phased out its longtime Dock Connector technology and switched to a different port-and-plug system dubbed Lightning.

In an instant, gazillions of docks were rendered obsolete amid much gnashing of teeth and rending of garments.

Since then, a number of Lightning-compatible docks have come on the market.

I like Belkin’s line of Charge + Sync docks, which work pretty well. The version I use incorporates the Lightning cable that came with my iPhone 5 instead of building in its own Lightning prong and USB cable.

This minimalist peripheral is merely a bent slab of aluminum with a notch-like opening in the middle. Your gadget rests on the upright, angled part of the metal slab, and the charging cord pokes through the opening to plug into the bottom of the iGizmo.

A sticky pad attached to the top of the dock keep your Apple device from sliding downward and clattering onto your desk or table. The so-called NanoSuction pad holds on to the device surprisingly well – yet readily releases the gadget, and leaves no residue.

A similar pad on the bottom of the dock keeps it from sliding around.

The NanoTek dock is an ingenious product because, as you may have already guessed, it can be used with virtually any mobile device – including Apple ones with Dock Connector tech, as well as any Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone mobile device with micro-USB charging and syncing.

Heck, you can even mount a small tablet, such as Apple’s iPad mini, on the dock.

The NanoTek dock isn’t perfect. The NanoSuction pad is no substitute for a firm, unyielding device cradle like the Belkin one I’m using. If I don’t remember to press my iPhone firmly onto the sticky pad, the device is liable to become unstuck, and skitter downward. This is a pain.

The NanoTek dock has its origins in a recent, successfully completed Kickstarter campaign to fund a Dock dubbed SETA. It is all but identical to the version sold by Bracketron, which licensed the SETA design from creators George Bashaw and 1.0 Innovations LLC of Tulsa, Oklahoma.